Wednesday, July 27, 2005

Nickelodeon, the children's television programmer, has licensed several of its characters - including SpongeBob SquarePants and Dora the Explorer - to several fresh produce distributors that will begin introducing a range of fruits and vegetable packages featuring the Nickelodeon characters in supermarkets next month.

Starting this fall, Grimmway Farms, Inc., Arvin, CA, will produce 1.6-oz single serving to 5-lb bags of baby cut and peeled carrots in pkgs featuring SpongeBob, Dora, and Sportacus & Stephanie. Boskovich Farms, Oxnard, CA will feature SpongeBob on its bags of spinach. And LGS Specialty Sales, NY, distributors of oranges, tangerines and clementines, will feature SpongeBob, Dora, Blue's Clues and The Backyardigans characters on its bags of fruit. Upcoming deals also include using Nickelodeon characters on cartons of low fat milk.

"Nickelodeon recognizes the importance of health and wellness for kids and is proud of the efforts the network is making to encourage kids to eat right and make healthy food choices," said Sherice Torres, vice-president, Nickelodeon & Viacom Consumer Products. "We're thrilled to be able to add to the fun of eating fruits and vegetables."

The network also plans to unveil a series of public service announcements that focus on the importance of starting the day by eating a balanced breakfast.

According to "Kids Food and Eating Behaviors," a research study conducted by Nickelodeon and Cogent Research, only 50% of kids in the USA eat breakfast everyday and only 39% of kids eat 3 meals per day on a daily basis.

On-air, the network has committed $20 million and 10% of its air time to health and wellness messaging.